Music: The Baseball Project

Cincinnati Reds history will be made when the Baseball Project — Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck and Linda Pitmon — makes its first appearance here at the Southgate House on Saturday night.
No, these venerable, veteran Alternative Rock musicians — better known for their work solo (Wynn) and with such bands as Minus 5 and R.E.M. (McCaughey, Buck), Young Fresh Fellows (McCaughey), Miracle Three, Dream Syndicate and Gutterball (Wynn again) — won’t be announcing they’re buying the Reds and changing their name to The Sex Pistols.

Instead, they plan to use the Cincinnati date to publicly debut their brand-new song “Pete Rose Way,” written by McCaughey and recorded earlier this week for the upcoming Baseball Project Vol.

2 album.
The first album, Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails, came out last year and became a surprise hit, by indie standards, with its rockin’, literate and often philosophical songs about the careers of Satchel Paige, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, Harvey Haddix, Sandy Koufax and others. (The opening song, “Past Time,” which questions whether baseball’s glory days are behind it, mentions in passing Rose’s famous slide into Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star Game.)

They perform at the Southgate House Saturday night. Read an interview with the band and get show details here.